Ford says 500,000 masks are coming

Premier Doug Ford says he is optimistic that the border dispute with the United States will end. He made the comment in his daily briefing after N-95 masks were stopped at the U.S. border on the weekend. Ford says he is hopeful ongoing discussion with the U.S. will mean that Canada may be exempt from the Presidential Order stopping the export of personal protective equipment across the border to this country and to Latin America.

Ford says he is a “trust but verify” type of person and until he physically sees the masks in Ontario, he will not be sure. The U.S. says the 500,000 masks have been released and are on their way. Ford says the province has ordered almost 4-million masks.

The premier said that Woodbridge has received Health Canada approval to produce what he called “new N-96 masks” and he will be showing them to the public tomorrow. He says that approvals for 900,000 COVID-19 test kits are still being done by Health Canada, but says they expect that to happen soon. He said last week he would rattle cages and called Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland a “real firecracker” for working with Health Canada to get approvals quickly and safely.